Miss World 1952

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Miss World 1952
Date14 November 1952
Presenters Eric Morley
Venue Lyceum Ballroom, London, United Kingdom
Entrants11
Placements5
Debuts
  • Finland
  • Ireland
  • Switzerland
  • West Germany
Withdrawals
  • Mexico
Winner May-Louise Flodin
Sweden
←  1951
1953  →

Miss World 1952 was the second Miss World pageant, held at the Lyceum Ballroom in London, United Kingdom on 14 November 1952.

Contents

At the conclusion of the event, May-Louise Flodin of Sweden was announced as Miss World 1952. It was the first back-to-back victory in Miss World. During the announcement of winners, Flodin was only awarded with a trophy and a bouquet.

A special award was given by actress and former beauty queen Betty Hutton, who came third-runner up in each of her beauty pageant. It was given to Eva Hellas of Finland. It is also known, unofficially, that the fourth-runner up was Marlene Ann Dee of United Kingdom and the fifth runner-up was Nicole Drouin from France.

Eleven contestants from ten countries participated in this year's pageant, the smallest number of contestants in its history. The pageant was hosted by Eric Morley.

Background

Selection of participants

Eleven contestants from ten countries were selected to compete in the pageant. Two contestant was invited to compete again to even out the number of contestants, while two contestants were appointed to replace the original winner.

Replacements

Elisabeth van Proosdij was set to represent Holland at Miss World. [1] However, Van Proosdij chose to get married during her reign. [2] Therefore, Sanny Weitner, first runner-up at Miss Holland 1951, was appointed as the representative of Holland at Miss World. [2]

Debuts and withdrawals

After promoting the competition with twelve contestants, Morley thought of inviting Miss Britain 1951 Marlene Ann Dee to complete the twelve contestants in this edition. This edition marked the debuts of Finland, Ireland, Switzerland and West Germany. Belgium was also set to debut this year, however, Anne-Marie Pauwels refused to part from her boyfriend during the contest, [3] leading to her disqualification. Thus, only eleven contestants competed in the finals. Leila Teresa Tuma of Syria did not compete due to political tensions. [4]

Results

Miss World 1952 participating countries Miss World 1952 Map.PNG
Miss World 1952 participating countries

Placements

PlacementContestant
Miss World 1952
1st Runner-Up
  • Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  Switzerland – Sylvia Müller [5]
2nd Runner-Up
  • Flag of Germany.svg West Germany – Vera Marks [5]
3rd Runner-Up
  • Flag of Finland.svg Finland – Eva Hellas [6]
4th Runner-Up
  • Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom – Marlene Ann Dee [7]
5th Runner-Up
  • Flag of France.svg France – Nicole Drouin [7]

Judges

A panel of six judges evaluated the performances of the eleven contestants. They were: [7]

Contestants

Eleven contestants competed for the title. [8]

CountryContestantAge [a] Hometown
Flag of Denmark.svg DenmarkLillian Christensen– Copenhagen
Flag of Finland.svg FinlandEva Hellas [9] 19 Helsinki
Flag of France.svg FranceNicole Drouin [10] 22 Paris
Flag of the Netherlands.svg HollandSanny Weitner [11] 19 Amsterdam
Flag of Ireland.svg IrelandEithne Dunne— Dublin
Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden May-Louise Flodin [12] 20 Gothenburg
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  SwitzerlandSylvia Müller20 Geneva
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom [b] Doreen Dawne [13] 29 London
Marlene Ann Dee20
Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg United StatesTally Richards [14] 24 New York City
Flag of Germany.svg West GermanyVera Marks [15] 19 Frankfurt

Notes

  1. ↑ Age at the time of the pageant
  2. ↑ Competed as Britain in the pageant

    References

    1. ↑ "Amsterdams meisje gekozen tot Miss Holland" [Amsterdam girl chosen as Miss Holland]. Het Parool. 28 April 1951. p. 1. Retrieved 29 February 2024– via Delpher.
    2. 1 2 "Wie wordt "Miss World"?" [Who will be "Miss World"?]. Zutphens dagblad voor de Graafschap en Veluwezoom (in Dutch). 31 October 1952. p. 7. Retrieved 29 February 2024– via Delpher.
    3. ↑ "Erelijst Miss België". De Morgen (in Dutch). 11 January 2010. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
    4. ↑ Mobayed, Samy Marwan (30 March 2022). "Syrian beauty pageants from a long, long time ago". Raseef22. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
    5. 1 2 3 "Bouquets". The Straits Times . 22 November 2022. p. 3. Retrieved 29 February 2024– via National Library Board.
    6. ↑ "Fairest of them all". Lewiston Morning Tribune. 19 November 1952. p. 5. Retrieved 29 February 2024– via Google News Archive.
    7. 1 2 3 Rodríguez Matute, Julio (14 October 2019). "Miss World 1952". MISS WORLD HISTORY / HISTORIA DE MISS MUNDO. Retrieved 9 October 2025.
    8. ↑ "2nd Miss World - 1952". Miss World . Archived from the original on 24 February 2025. Retrieved 30 April 2025.
    9. ↑ De Rybel, Seija (8 September 2006). "Eva Hellas, Miss Suomi 1952" [Eva Hellas, Miss Finland 1952]. Yle (in Finnish). Retrieved 29 February 2024.
    10. ↑ "There's beauty for you". The Straits Times . 8 November 1952. p. 3. Retrieved 29 February 2024– via National Library Board.
    11. ↑ "Miss Holland (reserve) wil Miss World worden" [Miss Holland (reserve) wants to become Miss World]. Leeuwarder courant. 11 November 1952. p. 9. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
    12. ↑ "Miss Zweden, het mooiste meisje van de wereld" [Miss Sweden, the most beautiful girl in the world]. De Telegraaf. 15 November 1952. p. 1. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
    13. ↑ "Swedesh miss wins beauty title". Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. 18 August 1951. p. 4. Retrieved 29 February 2024– via Google News Archive.
    14. ↑ "Untitled". Singapore Standard. 12 November 1952. p. 7. Retrieved 29 February 2024– via National Library Board.
    15. ↑ "Vera Marks". Der Spiegel (in German). 2 October 1951. ISSN   2195-1349 . Retrieved 29 February 2024.
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